This makes sleep disorders some of the most frequently occurring and undertreated disorders in North America. All told, we get 20% less sleep than past generations with no evidence that we require any less sleep1.

Risks Associated with Sleep Disorders and Problems Sleeping

Sleep disorders take their toll, both on the individual and those around them. Sleep disorders have been linked to:

Worse yet, it is estimated that 100,000 vehicle crashes a year are due to drowsy driving in the U.S. alone. In one study, people who drove for 17-19 hours performed worse than those who had a blood alcohol level of 0.05%. (A blood alcohol level of 0.08 percent is typically considered legally impaired in the U.S.) In the 2005 Sleep in America poll, 28% of working adults said they had made errors at work or had missed work, events or activities due to disordered sleep in the last three months alone.1

And while sleeping too little has been found to more than double the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease 2, consistently sleeping too much is correlated with increased mortality rates. However, it is thought that the factors of low socioeconomic status and depression are the primary cause for this correlation.3